Dr. Alvia J. Wardlaw, Professor and Director of the University Museum at Texas Southern University, and Paul R. Davis, Curator of Collections at the Menil Collection, explore the iconography of a mid-18th-century European tapestry’s representation of Africa. The tapestry’s imagery conveys the histories connecting Europe, Africa, and the Americas.
The work was added to the Menil’s permanent collection in the 1980s as part of the Image of the Black in Western Art, a research project and series of publications that investigates how people of African descent have been represented in art throughout history. The project was started by John and Dominique de Menil in 1960 and has been continued through the collaboration of Harvard University Press and the W.E.B. Du Bois Research Institute at the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research.
You are invited to submit your questions for the speakers in advance and during the program to [email protected].
About the speakers
Paul R. Davis, Ph.D., is Curator of Collections at the Menil Collection and oversees the museum’s holdings of art from Africa, Pacific Islands, the Americas, the ancient world, and pre-1900 Europe. His research focuses on the visual arts and cultures of French-speaking West Africa between the 18th and 21st centuries. His recent exhibition projects include ReCollecting Dogon (February 3 – July 9, 2017), Mapa Wiya: Your Map’s Not Needed (September 13, 2019 – February 2, 2020), as well installations of permanent collection galleries for the reopening of the Menil in September 2018.
About the series
In Dialogue is the Menil Collection’s series of live, online conversations. Menil curators are joined by notable scholars, artists, and art professionals for engaging discussions about the museum’s collection, current exhibitions, and ideas shaping contemporary discourses about art. All programs are free and open to everyone.
